Romancing the Afterlife

Hopeless Love

    It was a beautiful day in June at Spoons secondary collegiate. The sun shone bright through the glass of the second floor windows of Mrs. Carson’s advanced English class and right into Cain Lewis’ eyes. The brightness irritated him causing him to keep his head slightly turned down and stare at his desk. A plain brown piece of wood under his arms that held up the book he was supposed to be following along with and not daydreaming to himself. Cain was a smart kid and an average student, he rarely pushed himself to excel because he wasn’t sure what he wanted to excel at. His town and the surrounding area were often seen as a dead end. He was not well known or liked. He was generally socially awkward in most situations, so he usually tried to avoid them. He had dark features and fair skin. His only reference to his looks was his mother’s opinion that he was ‘a cute and handsome boy’. He wasn’t very coordinated at sports, he didn’t have a great taste in clothes (or care much about it), his family was lower middle-class and though he was an only child didn’t get much allowance to do things with, and the only times he was funny was when people laughed at him.

    Mrs. Carson carried on with reading and trying to keep the class engaged, but most of her class had about the same amount of enthusiasm as Cain. She had a way of droning on in such a monotone voice, that you almost forgot a living person was talking. It was also the last week of school, so she stood very little chance of enticing a class into a book that didn’t really count for any of their final grade. The fact that everyone in her English class except Avery Neilson would graduate made the attendance level this day pretty amazing. Mrs. Carson continued to read while everyone struggled to stay awake, doodled, texted or just zoned out.

Lucy Little was one of the few people who seemed to be paying any attention. She sat two seats ahead of Cain, only one seat away from the front. There was no one sitting in between them, so Cain had the perfect view of the back of her head, which remained upright unlike his. The sun did not bother her eyes because she wore prescription-reading glasses that had transition lenses. They did not tarnish her image by making her look nerdy, if anything they made her look both cooler and smarter. To which she didn’t need help, most would agree she was already cool and smart. She averaged an 81% this year in grades, and though she was not the most popular girl in their school, because that was Molly Thomas and if you tried to make it to her level she would crush you on social media with sarcasm and bitchiness, she was the most liked person in their school. She was involved in several school groups and events, including planning this year’s prom. She was the third best player on the girls’ basketball team, and had made captain of this year’s mixed volleyball team that she led to first place against the five other local teams. She volunteered with a community outreach program that worked with teens with developmental disabilities. Her social media persona was huge and yet remained squeaky clean from almost all scandals and drama, which for a female high school senior was a phenomenal feat on its own.

Like most popular girls in any high school, she was very beautiful. She was possibly the most attractive girl at Spoons secondary collegiate. She was 5’10 which was taller than most girls, but just shorter than many of the guys. She had natural blonde hair that draped down just passed her shoulders. Not so blonde as to be fodder for blonde jokes, but not a dull dirty blonde either. It was a perfect golden colour that most days seemed to shine even in the absence of light. She was very fit with the right size breasts to draw attention but not hinder her athletic performance. Her clothes were never so tight as to suggest she was trying to flaunt her nearly perfect body, but far from loose and baggy like she didn’t give a damn. They were often trendy enough they were on the verge of trend setting. Her ears were pierced twice in each ear, but nothing else was or had been. She had one cool butterfly tattoo that people could see, and a meaningful angel tattoo that almost no one saw. Her teeth were straight and white. Her smile was infectious. Her feet were size 8, with no defects or weird shaped toenails. Her skin was naturally a perfect tan colour like she had always just returned from an island resort. No head went unturned when she walked by, no matter what age or even gender.

Lucy Little was everything Cain believed he wanted in a woman, or more specifically a girlfriend. He thought about her all the time, but rarely had the courage to talk to her. Lucy Little was one of those types that it was hard to get near. Though she herself was a decent and kind person most of the time, many of those that traveled in her social groups regularly exercised being ignorant and intolerant, and they didn’t let losers like Cain get anywhere near their icon. It was not always this way though, Cain and Lucy had been in the same class almost every year since grade one when he first met and fell for her, and never considered any other girl since. They had never been friends, but up until high school they had been friendly with eachother. Now things at best were polite. She thanked him if he held the door open for her, and she never teased him, or brought up any embarrassing stories from the past. Few of their peers knew or remembered the younger grades when Cain was full of enough youthful optimism to actually try and pursue Lucy. He bought her candy hearts every Valentine’s Day until the fifth grade, when normal kids actually started liking eachother and he started feeling the pressure of competition. He would always try and partner with her in projects, which she sometimes didn’t mind because he would frequently do most of the work voluntarily. He attended all her birthday parties until she reached the age where you stopped inviting every kid in class. She was a very intimidating focus for a person’s crush that was sometimes bordering on obsession.

To Cain’s knowledge Lucy never really had a boyfriend, which he mistook to mean that she was waiting for the right person to come along. In reality she chose not to be held back by relationships from future aspirations or experiences. Not unlike many others of her social caliber at her school. She kept any of her relationships casual, but over the past year was seen around with Bruce Holden enough that most people considered them an item. Bruce was also pretty popular in his own way, it could be said he was infamous in the town of Racoon Hill. Cain considered him the biggest douche for miles, mostly based on assumptions and reputation but also because he was a muscular jock who didn’t play sports. He also wasn’t a student of Spoons High. He just liked to hang out there sometimes and talk to younger friends of his and continue a legacy of tormenting and intimidating people he decided were lesser. It was baffling why he was never made to leave school grounds. Also, unlike Lucy he did like to flaunt his body, keeping his shirt on appeared to be a difficult challenge for him.

The last real conversation between Cain and Lucy had occurred more than a year earlier on a day that was in the cusp between being winter or spring. It was 41 degrees Fahrenheit that morning. It happened during an impromptu fire alarm someone pulled as a prank (suspected to be Justin Caldwell, because he did s**t like that all the time). Cain had been in the middle of changing for gym class when the alarm went off. He often waited for most of the other boys to finish changing and go in the gym or on to the field before he changed his own clothes. The main reason for this was that half naked (or completely naked) teenage boys in a locker room often have the maturity of a pack of monkeys. There had been enough incidents for Cain that he was never sure why he bothered even taking gym anymore. He knew it made his dad prouder of him, but he didn’t know why when his abilities only reduced his grade average. Mr. Davis their teacher happened to be very strict on safety that day, because when the alarm rang he rushed everyone out even if they weren’t that dressed and all the snow hadn’t melted. Cain was pushed out the door into the hall and told to evacuate. He took a detour from the closest exit, and ran around the corner towards the back exit. It led to an area at the side of the school that ran along the backside of an office building. The two buildings were separated by a long running fence that left a two person wide path to walk to either side of the school. The office building didn’t have any windows in the back on the first floor, so there were generally no outside witnesses. It was a quieter area that not many people hung out in, though many fights had been said to occur there, and at night ….shadier things.

Lucy had been wandering the halls on a free period when the alarm rung, she felt it was a good time to sneak out for a cigarette without anyone noticing she occasionally indulged in the gross habit. Cain exited the school in his boxer shorts seconds after Lucy had lit her cigarette. He froze in front of her like a deer in headlights, as they gave each other a surprised stare for a few seconds of awkwardness.

    “Nice boxers.” Lucy said nonchalantly.

    “Yeah, Mr. Davis wouldn’t let me get dressed,” he replied, while wrapping his arms around his chest in embarrassment and chills. It was impossible in that moment for him to feel comfortable and act cool.

    “That sucks. Decent package though. You should think about working out.” Then her cell phone rang and she gabbed on to one of her friends about how Mr. Erikson wasn’t wearing his toupee, as she walked off leaving Cain shivering and his decent package shrinking. “Thank you and I will!” he called after her, feeling a little reassured as he huddled himself by the door hoping no one else would come by. It was the first time a female had openly recognized his junk, which he had always considered to be average in comparison to what he had noticed other guys his age to have. This was the basis for Cain to start believing that there was some chemistry between them, and naturally given the right opportunity and/or circumstances maybe it could actually work between them. Maybe she would see something in him. Plus since that day, he could now do up to twenty-seven pushups, though it hardly made much difference to his physical appearance.

    “Does something about female oppression please you Mr. Lewis?” Mrs. Carson asked, singling him out from the class. He had been caught daydreaming again, it happened at least once a week in one of his classes. Many peers chuckled at him, and a few girls looked at him a bit seriously, seeming legitimately concerned about his views. He realized he must have had a goofy smile on his face or something, as that sometimes happened when his daydreams had to do with Lucy.

    “I, uh ….” He struggled to think of something to say that would possibly rescue him from this moment. He was pretty sure he was blushing, and he had everyone’s attention now including Lucy’s. She turned around giving him a look of amusement, and in an effort not to look worse in front of her words came to him, “Not at all Mrs. Carson, it is terrible that men were so dominant for so long and there was unfair treatment, but I was just admiring how far women have come and continue to advocate for a more equal existence. I for one would treat any female I encountered as a fair partner, opponent, competitor, lover-“

    “That will do Mr. Lewis. Sadly not every country in the world has such great male feminists as yourself.” She said with sarcasm, now wishing she hadn’t bother to say anything at all.